Blog Archive
December 2017
Fri Dec 29
The Delicate Art of Asterculture
by Sarah Gailey
Die Hard is a Modern Fairy Tale
by Max Gladstone
Fantasy Creatures Won’t Stop Inviting Me Over for Tea
by Leah Schnelbach
“We’re not your classic heroes” — Mystery Men and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
by Keith R.A. DeCandido
Beyond Good and Evil: The Complex Moral System of Tolkien’s Middle-earth
by Elise Ringo
Thu Dec 28
Who Would Win in the Ultimate Dragon/Balrog Showdown?
by Austin Gilkeson
Philosophical Science Fiction: The Will to Battle by Ada Palmer
by Liz Bourke
5 Things Albus Dumbledore Should Have Told Harry Potter
by Emmet Asher-Perrin
My Favorite Medieval Film Is A Knight’s Tale
by Michael Livingston
Wed Dec 27
The Rare and Wonderful Standalone Sequel: Joan Vinge’s World’s End
by James Davis Nicoll
In Defense of Tolkien’s Deus Ex Machina
by Jeff LaSala
Do Not Ever Ask For a Cup of Jawa Juice at the Spaceport Cantina
by Emmet Asher-Perrin
Tue Dec 26
Why I Stopped Reading The Queen’s Thief Series (And Why I’m Diving Back In)
by Natalie Zutter
The Books We’re Looking Forward to in 2018
by Stubby the Rocket
Sleeps With Monsters: Therapeutic Compassion
by Liz Bourke
After Oathbringer: Speculations, Theories, and Expectations for Brandon Sanderson’s Next Stormlight Archive Book
by Paige Vest and Alice Arneson
Mon Dec 25
Laugh Hard, Run Fast… Be Kind. Doctor Who: “Twice Upon A Time”
by Emmet Asher-Perrin
A Charlie Brown Christmas and the Search for Holiday Truths
by Leah Schnelbach
Not Some New Man: The Hidden Pattern Behind the Doctor’s Regenerations
by Emmet Asher-Perrin
Fri Dec 22
Our Favorite Non-Holiday Films to Watch Over the Holidays
by Stubby the Rocket
The Thrill of Hearing “Once Upon a Time”
by Angela Slatter
Talking to Geeks at Parties (About Your Favorite Shows/Books/Movies)
by Emmet Asher-Perrin
What Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle Could Learn from a ’90s Fantasy Novel
by Natalie Zutter
The Quiet Heroics of Gardening
by Ursula Vernon
Thu Dec 21
The Real Magic of Santa Claus
by Emmet Asher-Perrin
Overflowing with Magical Shoes: The Elves and the Shoemaker
by Mari Ness
Oooh, A Sparkly: The Secret of NIMH
by Leigh Butler
Star Wars’ Vice-Admiral Holdo and Our Expectations for Female Military Power
by Arkady Martine
80 Years of Animated Fairy Tales: Rewatching Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
by Mari Ness
Why Canto Bight is Vital to The Last Jedi
by Molly Templeton
Have Yourself a Populist Christmas with It’s a Wonderful Life and The Bishop’s Wife
by Leah Schnelbach
Wed Dec 20
12 Movies that Embrace a Darker Holiday Spirit
by Leah Schnelbach
We Warned You Not to Trust the Mushrooms: Marc Laidlaw’s “Leng”
by Anne M. Pillsworth and Ruthanna Emrys
Learning to Write Fluffy, Glittery Violence from My Little Pony
by Seanan McGuire
Explore The Stormlight Archive in VR and 7 Other Updates from State of the Sanderson 2017
by Stubby the Rocket
Christmas Trees, Toys, and An Epic Battle Between Good and Evil: The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus
by Leah Schnelbach
The SFF Toys That Stole Our Hearts
by Emmet Asher-Perrin
Anime Year in Review: The Ten Best Shows of 2017
by Kelly Quinn Chiu
Thanks to The Last Jedi, We Finally Know What “The Force Awakens” Means
by Emmet Asher-Perrin
Tue Dec 19
Santa’s Adventures in Science Fiction
by Victor Grech
Brandon Sanderson’s New Novel Skyward Will Arrive in November 2018
by Stubby the Rocket
There’s Nothing ‘Only’ About Being a Journalist: An Appreciation of Sarah Jane Smith
by Tansy Rayner Roberts
Star Wars: The Last Jedi Confronts the Temptation to Run Away
by Natalie Zutter
Sleeps With Monsters: Alex Wells Answers Six Questions
by Liz Bourke
Where Do You Belong if You Don’t Fit Anywhere? Cultural Deterioration and The Wheel of Time
by Preeti Chhibber
Mon Dec 18
Storytelling and the Art of Quilting
by Cassandra Rose Clarke
Rereading the Vorkosigan Saga: Memory, Chapters 27-28
by Ellen Cheeseman-Meyer
A Little Alien Magic: Andre Norton’s Forerunner
by Judith Tarr
Die Hard is Great, but Shane Black is the King of the Christmas Explosion
by Emmet Asher-Perrin
Deadly Grace: Revealing Black Wings Beating
by Tor.com
Sun Dec 17
12 Moments in Star Wars: The Last Jedi that Positively Wrecked Me
by Emmet Asher-Perrin
Fri Dec 15
5 of the Coolest Cats in Space
by Corey J. White
Drunken Birds and Angry Goats Celebrate A Good Old-Fashioned Victorian Christmas!
by Stubby the Rocket
“Smokin’!” — The Mask and Son of the Mask
by Keith R.A. DeCandido
Star Wars: The Last Jedi is Here to Wring All the Emotions It Possibly Can Out of You
by Emmet Asher-Perrin
Over the Garden Wall: A Sweet, Strange Journey into The Unknown
by Martin Cahill
Thu Dec 14
Eight Kloo Horn Players Sadly Absent from Star Wars: The Last Jedi
by Emmet Asher-Perrin
Watch Your Ovens CAREFULLY, Everyone: The Gingerbread Boy
by Mari Ness
Ursula K. Le Guin’s Essential Internet Writing, Now Between Two Covers
by Matthew Keeley
Star Wars, Full Circle: A New Fan’s Take On The Force Awakens
by Ava Jarvis
Quality Over Quantity: The Best of Stanley G. Weinbaum
by Alan Brown
Star Wars and the Long Arc of the Rebellion
by Emmet Asher-Perrin
See Tamora Pierce on Tour for Tempests and Slaughter!
by Tor.com
Wed Dec 13
Let Me Tell You About My Dream: H.P. Lovecraft’s “The Very Old Folk”
by Ruthanna Emrys and Anne M. Pillsworth
Blood and Sand
by C. V. Wyk
Watching Return of the Jedi for the First Time, After the Prequels
by Ava Jarvis
Power is Money in Sanderson’s Cosmere
by Lancelot Schaubert
Watch the Creepy New Trailer for Annihilation
by Stubby the Rocket
Everything’s Coming Up Fëanor
by Jeff LaSala
Download a Free Ebook of Truthwitch by Susan Dennard – 12/13 Only!
by Tor.com
Where Should You Start Reading The Chronicles of Narnia?
by Mari Ness
“Fun” Doesn’t Exist in a Vacuum — Why Context Always Matters
by Brandon O'Brien
Tue Dec 12
Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery RPG Lets You Fulfill Your Dreams of Being a Hogwarts Student
by Stubby the Rocket
Lumberjanes’ Noelle Stevenson is Rebooting She-Ra for Netflix
by Stubby the Rocket
Holy Rewatch Batman! Extra: Batman vs. Two-Face
by Keith R.A. DeCandido
The Top Spec-Fic Comics of 2017
by Alex Brown
A Star Wars Newbie Watches The Empire Strikes Back for the First Time
by Ava Jarvis
7 Curiouser and Curiouser Retellings of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
by Natalie Zutter
Sleeps With Monsters: Warding off Winter Darkness
by Liz Bourke
Defining Heroism as Vulnerability: How Star Wars Created a New Kind of Action Movie
by Leah Schnelbach
“I Know My Phoebe Still Lives.” Revealing Stygian, the Next Dark-Hunter Novel by Sherrilyn Kenyon
by Tor.com
Mon Dec 11
Rereading the Vorkosigan Saga: Memory, Chapter 26
by Ellen Cheeseman-Meyer
Ask SFF Equine: Can a Stallion Be a Good Father?
by Judith Tarr
When We Try to Sort Writers Into ‘Plotter’ or ‘Pantser’
by Ada Palmer
Fantasy Writers That Make Great Use of Haunted Rivers, an American Literary Tradition
by Katie Rask
Save the OASIS in the First Trailer for Ready Player One
by Stubby the Rocket
Jessica Jones Season 2 Premieres on International Women’s Day
by Stubby the Rocket
The Top Young Adult SFF of 2017
by Alex Brown
Great Holiday Movies in Which Everything Goes Wrong
by Alasdair Stuart
Fri Dec 8
How to Fight in a Victorian Dress
by Marie Brennan
Why You Watch the Original Mad Max Trilogy
by Leah Schnelbach
Classic SF Radio Dramas to Stretch the Imagination
by James Davis Nicoll
“I am the law!”—Judge Dredd (1995) and Dredd (2012)
by Keith R.A. DeCandido
Get Out’s Jordan Peele to Reboot The Twilight Zone for CBS All Access
by Stubby the Rocket
Directors Who Could Make Really Interesting Star Trek Films
by Alasdair Stuart
Lava Finds a Way in the First Trailer for Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
by Stubby the Rocket
The Way the Wheel Turns: Persepolis Rising by James S. A. Corey
by Niall Alexander
Thu Dec 7
Meet My Alien Family: Writing Across Cultures in Science Fiction
by Becky Chambers
A Sleeping Beauty Trapped in Canada: L.M. Montgomery’s The Blue Castle
by Mari Ness
Netflix to Adapt John Scalzi’s Old Man’s War as a Movie
by Stubby the Rocket
Once Upon a December: The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden
by Alex Brown
Here’s How The X-Men Would Use Social Media
by Stubby the Rocket
The “True Nature of the Force” is More Complicated Than You Think
by Emmet Asher-Perrin
Jean Grey is Literally Falling Apart in the First Look at X-Men: Dark Phoenix
by Stubby the Rocket
I Loved These Books As a Teen — Do They Hold Up Now?
by Amber Troska
Death, Disguises, Centaurs, and Cat Ladies: Wild Cards V: Down and Dirty
by Katie Rask
Wed Dec 6
Against Plushies: J. R. Hamantaschen’s “Cthulhu, Zombies, Ninjas and Robots!”
by Anne M. Pillsworth and Ruthanna Emrys
Debuting at Forty-Two or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Writing Process
by Kari Maaren
Children of Women: Megan Hunter’s The End We Start From
by Leah Schnelbach
Watchmen: A Tale of Care and Understanding
by Joe George
Old and Cold: “The Space Traders” by Derrick Bell
by Nisi Shawl
Netflix Reveals New Black Mirror Season 4 Trailer and Premiere Date!
by Natalie Zutter
Glitter and Grime: Would You Want to Go to Star Wars’ Canto Bight?
by Molly Templeton
Reconsidering the Tragic Tale of Voldemort’s Parents
by Mairead McNulty
Tue Dec 5
All the New Science Fiction Books Coming Out in December
by Tor.com
Five Books About Writing that Made Me a Better Writer
by Ken Scholes
Brandon Sanderson Previews His Young Adult “Mystery Project” Skyward
by Stubby the Rocket
Women are the Champions of the Rebellion Now
by Leah Schnelbach
Sleeps With Monsters: Djinn and Politics in an Interesting Debut
by Liz Bourke
Black Excellence: Honoring Kwanzaa through Science Fiction and Fantasy
by Alex Brown
Fire, Phantoms, and What Didn’t Make it into The Only Harmless Great Thing
by Brooke Bolander
Mon Dec 4
Rereading the Vorkosigan Saga: Memory, Chapter 25
by Ellen Cheeseman-Meyer
The Shape of Water Frames Communication as a Revolutionary Act
by Emmet Asher-Perrin
Time After Time After Time: Andre Norton’s Forerunner Foray
by Judith Tarr
All the New Fantasy Books Coming Out in December
by Tor.com
Watch the First Teaser for Netflix’s Adaptation of Richard K. Morgan’s Cyberpunk Noir Altered Carbon
by Stubby the Rocket
Fear of the Female Voice
by Sarah Gailey
The Best Way to Approach The Book of the New Sun
by Matthew Keeley
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 5 Premiere: Agents in Spaaaaaace!
by Alan Brown
The Force Awakens Characters Are Named After Their Hogwarts Houses
by Emmet Asher-Perrin
Announcing a New Novella from Nebula Award-winner Rachel Swirsky
by Ruoxi Chen
Fri Dec 1
Shared History: Revisiting Long Book Series
by Jo Walton
Aurora Australis: Superheroes, Merfolk, and Corporate Insects
by Alexandra Pierce
Space Opera, Fairy Tales, and Epic Fantasy Await in Barnes & Noble Booksellers Picks for December
by Tor.com
Feast Your Eyes on the Stunning Character Posters for the Nnedi Okorafor Adaptation Hello, Rain
by Stubby the Rocket
“I’m not bedtime story lady, so pay attention!” — Barb Wire and Tank Girl
by Keith R.A. DeCandido
Playing a Complicated Mage: Amanda Walsh Discusses Her Role in Dirk Gently
by Leah Schnelbach
Tom Baker and Douglas Adams Ride Again in “Shada,” The Lost Doctor Who Serial
by Alasdair Stuart
How 1998’s Lost in Space Prepared Me for Hollywood’s Reboot Obsession
by Emmet Asher-Perrin